No bail for customs officer

The Customs and Border Protection officer who was charged this week with helping smuggle in scores of illegal immigrants won't be getting out of federal jail soon.

U.S. Magistrate Judge David Bartick ordered that Hector Rodriguez, 45, be detained in the downtown jail. He agreed with federal prosecutors that Rodriguez posed too great a risk of fleeing if he were allowed out.

Rodriguez is charged with conspiracy and bringing illegal immigrants into the U.S for financial gain. Prosecutors said he would allow carloads of illegal immigrants driven by two co-defendants through the inspection lane he was working at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor White. Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty.

The charges allege Rodriguez would tell his co-defendants what lane he was scheduled to handle on a particular shift. He would then allow cars driven by them through, entering false information into government computers about the drivers of the car and vehicle type, and not log information about the passengers.

Rodriguez is a retired Marine Corps veteran who lives in Riverside County. But White said he also used a rented apartment in San Ysidro, paid for by co-defendant Gerardo Rodriguez. The two, who are not related, were arrested July 13 along with a woman, Vanessa Moya.

Moya and Gerardo Rodriguez had just driven two cars with 14 illegal immigrants through the port of entry, authorities said. Court records say the smuggling scheme had been going on since 2010. Hector Rodriguez received bribes such as the use of luxury vehicles, rent payment and other gifts, prosecutors said.